Defamation: Voting machine manufacturer receives millions from US cable channel

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18 times on television and once in an online posting, Newsmax spread unfounded allegations about Dominion Voting Systems, a manufacturer of voting machines. Dominion sued Newsmax for 1.6 billion US dollars in damages. The two companies have now reached a settlement. Newsmax will pay a total of 67 million dollars in three installments until the beginning of 2027.

The settlement apparently does not include an apology or a retraction of the allegations that Dominion falsified election results, was linked to a Venezuelan company, and bribed officials. In April, a Delaware court found that Dominion had presented “clear and convincing evidence” that the allegations were false and defamatory (US Dominion et al. v. Newsmax Media, Delaware Superior Court, Case No. N21C-08-063). A jury was to decide whether Newsmax knowingly spread lies and decide the amount of damages. This will not happen now.

This is the result of a brief communication from the listed television station to the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) on Assumption Day. Last week, Newsmax also had to admit that it would not be able to publish its quarterly report on time.

Payment also to Smartmatic

In September, following a lawsuit against Newsmax (Smartmatic USA v. Newsmax Media, Delaware Superior Court, Ref. N21C-11-028), a similar settlement was reached with Smartmatic. Newsmax will pay 40 million dollars for defamation of this voting machine manufacturer.

This means that the cable channel gets off much more favorably than its competitor Fox News. After the US federal elections in November 2020, this TV channel extensively spread conspiracy stories about Dominion and Smartmatic. At the end of March 2023, the Delaware Superior Court ruled that none of the allegations were true (US Dominion et al. v. Fox News Network, case no. N21C-03-257; US Dominion et al. v. Fox Corp, case no. N21C-11-082). Even before a jury could decide whether Fox had intentionally spread lies, the television station reached an agreement with Dominion for compensation of 787.5 million dollars.

A lawsuit is pending against Fox by Smartmatic, which is seeking 2.7 billion dollars in damages in a court in the US state of New York (Smartmatic USA et al. v. Fox Corp et al., Supreme Court of New York, case no. 151136/2021).

Trump wants to ban voting machines

Although there is no evidence for the conspiracy stories about voting machine and postal vote fraud, US President Donald Trump wants to ban both voting methods. On Monday, the senior citizen announced that he would lead a movement to ban both voting machines and postal voting across the US. He took the opportunity to accuse Democrats of “cheating at all levels.” There is no evidence of large-scale electoral fraud in the USA.

Postal voting is popular in the USA. In the US-wide elections in November 2024, a good 30 percent of all voters voted by post. This was the second-highest figure in the history of US elections; only in the November 2020 elections held during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was the figure higher at 43%.

Postal voting can help against voter suppression

One of the classic methods of suppressing certain groups of voters is the distribution of polling stations and their resources. While it may be convenient to vote in some neighborhoods, other neighborhoods may have hard-to-reach polling places with far too few booths, ballot boxes, and poll workers. As a result, some areas may be able to vote quickly, while others may have to wait in line for hours, possibly in extreme heat or storms. The particularly contested US state of Georgia has also banned the distribution of food or drink in the vicinity of polling stations and queues. The way the ban is worded, it also applies to restaurant deliveries ordered by app or sharing a snack between people standing in line together.

Especially for poorer people who have to work several jobs to make ends meet, as well as parents of school-age children, it can be prohibitively difficult to cast their vote in such scenarios. They may not have the money to travel to the polls or the time to stand in long lines. Mailing in ballots is the most viable way for many Americans to try to avoid voter suppression.

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